Day 6 - A Turtle’s Head in Lake Lugano

We definitely sleep better in the fresh air. I had a good 8 hours and Jackie had more than 10. Yet again I was on domestic duties making the coffees etc in the glorious sunshine. After breakfast and showers we headed out of camp around 10.30am.

Today’s plan was to have an easy walk to the L’Orrido Val Sanagra. It was a hike on the website of our fantastic campsite that had been also highly recommended by Marco, our Dutch neighbour.

We drove the 6 miles to the starting point, a free car park in Codogna-Cardano. The website described it as a 3km walk. It wasn’t. We walked through the village then headed down into Val Senagra Park with a raging cascading river at the bottom. We crossed the river and hiked along the path that followed the river, the Fiume Senagra, along the steep bank. When we arrived at an overhanging rock face, a long, narrow suspended metal walkway allowed us to continue. In places, it was particularly low, requiring a person of normal height (5’8”+) to have to bend down or lean out over the railing.

Jackie and I have been on some incredibly scenic walks around the world and without a doubt this walk was right up there with them. The dramatic scenery was just awe inspiring. It felt like we were in some lost or undiscovered world (apart from the half dozen dog walkers who came past the other way).

After a 2km plus hike through the the valley, we arrived at the derelict Galli Furnace where bricks and roof tiles used to be made. After I had fallen down a grassy slope in search of the perfect photograph, we about turned. Half way back we took a diversion onto a cycle path that was a shortcut back to the car. It was pretty much the perfect walk. Hopefully my photos do it justice!!

We drove back to Porlezza and stopped in a huge supermarket, where we purchased fruit, yoghurt, orange juice, balsamic vinegar, more tonic waters and bread rolls. We then parked up in town and walked to our favourite little cafe. We had a couple of beers each in the sun and agreed that its location and ambience was hard to beat.

Whilst enjoying our afternoon refreshments, I ESPIED a turtle’s head (as evidenced with my prize winning wildlife photograph). To make sure I wasn’t going delirious, I googled Turtles in Lake Lugano & it confirmed there were turtles in the lake. I did also notice that in 2007, Lake Lugano was deemed to have the most polluted water. I didn’t want to know any more and I didn’t mention it to Jackie. I also read that the surface level of Lake Lugano is 271 metres above sea level.

We returned to camp, donned our swimming gear and went for the swim in Lake Lugano that we had promised ourselves. The water was surprisingly warm and I reminded myself that I shouldn’t drink any, just as Jackie re-surfaced spitting water everywhere. After our swim, we set down our chairs on the shingle beach and supped glasses of white wine, whilst wallowing in the late afternoon sun.

Around 6pm, we returned to our tent and cooked up the remainder of the Chilli con carne, which we had with salad and Jackie’s amazing homemade garlic bread. We had several G&Ts and just chilled around camp before another early night.

Song of the Day - The Walk by The Cure.Read more